15th June, 2024
We’re delighted to report that Giles Cooper (Chairman of the Royal Variety Charity & Executive Producer of the Royal Variety Performance) has been awarded the OBE in HM The King’s Birthday Honours "for services to entertainment and to charity.”
Huge congratulations Giles! Very well deserved!!
Giles Cooper (age 55) began his career in entertainment in the late 1980’s, working on the weekly music papers, Melody Maker and New Musical Express (NME). During the 1990’s, he worked at entertainment marketing agency, Sold Out, as an Account Manager working for most of the major UK music festivals, show producers and tour promoters.
In 1998, he founded his own marketing agency, Media Junction, working across all areas of live entertainment including music, theatre, comedy and dance.
He is best known as a concert promoter and last year (2023), staged large-scale concerts for (amongst many others), Robbie Williams, The Who, Sir Tom Jones, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Soft Cell, Hozier and Sir Van Morrison.
Giles volunteered his services to the Royal Variety Charity in 2007 and in 2010 was elected Chairman of the Charity. He continues in this unpaid, voluntary role today and 2024 will also mark his 15th year as Executive Producer of the annual Royal Variety Performance – the charity's annual, fundraising show - now viewed by over 152M TV viewers worldwide, each year.
In 2014, he was awarded 'Freedom of the City of London' and in 2023, the Executive Committee of the Royal Variety Charity named a new wing at its carehome for elderly entertainers, 'The Giles Cooper Wing' - in recognition of his vision and leadership of Brinsworth House's huge refurbishment project.